The Leading Point

The Charismatic Megachurch: An Endangered Species?

2008-09-15T19:22:00.010-05:00

If you're a leader in a charismatic church and haven't seen the most recent study on megachurches, be forewarned: It's simultaneously intriguing, disheartening and reaffirming, depending on how you view church methodology and kingdom calling. Warren Bird and Scott Thumma's "Changes in American Megachurch," which tracked the country's largest churches for the past eight years, is definitely worth a glance, if only for cultural gleaning. Among the interesting (albeit somewhat predictable) finds:

In 2008, the typical megachurch had an average of 4,142 people attending each weekend, yet its sanctuary only seated 1,794—which leads to the next stat ...
In 2008, 37 percent of megachurches were multisite, compared to only 22 percent in 2000.
Most megachurches have at least two satellite campuses and average four services at each campus per weekend.
Seventy-seven percent of megachurches are involved in church planting, compared to 68 percent in 2000 and 70 percent in 2005.
The average income for a megachurch in 2008 was more than $6.5 million—up half a million from 2005, and an increase of almost $2 million since 2000. (It should be noted, however, that when considering inflation rates, $6.5 million actually equates to a slight decline in the last three years.)
And in an interesting twist ... since 2000, 20 percent fewer megachurches now have a radio ministry, while 15 percent fewer are involved in a television ministry. The reason? Most megachurches are relying on the more affordable Web-based streaming to broadcast to the masses.

With most upward-swinging statistics indicating that this is indeed the Age of the Megachurch in America, why would a charismatic leader be disheartened? Because buried deep in the study is a telling statistic, one that seems incongruous with other data:

Less than half as many megachurches today are identifying themselves as "charismatic" or "Pentecostal." In 2000, 14 percent chose to be tagged as "charismatic"; today, only 7 percent opt for such a billing. Likewise, 11 percent of megachurches kept their "Pentecostal" label; eight years later, that's down to 4 percent.

It would probably take another 100-page study to go into all the reasons for this, but I find it fascinating that when it comes to megachurches, the proven nationwide rise of Pentecostalism is seemingly having no effect. Earlier this year, George Barna himself wrote about this surge in our print pages. Obviously, this increased Spirit-filled population is going somewhere. Yet at the same time, megachurches continue to lean toward a melting pot of generic spirituality, making the charismatic/Pentecostal megachurch an endangered species. It seems the more people you have showing up to worship, the less pronounced you can be in declaring certain "extreme" elements of the Christian faith—at least not if you want to keep those people coming.

I've been to many megachurches with amazing ministries. Undoubtedly, these massive bodies can do certain things that smaller congregations can only dream of. So to that extend, they have an incredible purpose and function in the body at large. But as someone who admittedly doesn't yet understand how megachurches can truly "do" church the way we're called to in God's Word, I wonder: Are megachurch leaders sacrificing certain key elements of the Christian faith for the sake of numerical growth? Or are Spirit-filled pastors on the cusp of "megachurchdom" opting to dilute their message to appeal to a broader audience? Either way, one thing is clear: The "offensive" nature of charismatic belief causes problems when it comes to bigger Sunday crowds.

Cute or Creepy?

2008-09-03T14:00:00.004-05:00

Hearing the Fathers' Voices

2008-08-22T10:49:00.005-05:00

I wish this blog post addressed something else besides Todd Bentley's marital problems or, for that matter, anything to do with the Lakeland Outpouring. In fact, I'd planned on posting one of those carefree "it's Friday so lighten up" posts with chuckle-links galore. But the truth is, what we're going through as the charismatic movement right now is no laughing matter, and neither is it something to ignore in hopes that it goes away with time. It's time for us to roll up our sleeves, commit to sticking through this as family and deal with the raw issues.

We need the fathers' voices to be heard. Obviously we need to hear the Father's voice the loudest. But God has also appointed specific leaders to shepherd an entire movement, and those are the leaders we need to hear from now more than ever. We don't just need a rallying cry or a clarion call, we need heart-to-heart dialogue on what just happened, what it means and where we go from here.

After a brief silence, the fathers are beginning to speak. Below are links to some of the public statements released this past week. (There are obviously others speaking, but these are leaders I felt needed to be highlighted given their proximity to the situation or the depth of their words.) I've highlighted a few quotes from each person, but I encourage you to read through their statements in full. Don't just assume you know what will be said given who it's coming from, but instead undestand that every leader is trying to display the heart of God throughout this time. As has been reiterated throughout the charismatic body so often for so long, let's not toss the baby out with the bathwater.

From John Arnott:

“I am aware that the devil wants to tempt some people to say, ‘I told you so.’ Do not allow yourself to become his instrument by using the sword of truth without mercy in this way.”
“Be slow to speak out publicly and to judge prematurely. It is time to treat these people with grace, like you would like to be treated when you fall or make a mistake. Be assured that nothing is being ‘swept under the carpet,’ but we are bringing it out into the light of God’s truth in mercy so that we can interrupt Satan’s plan to use this to discredit Jesus Christ by destroying the lives of Todd, his family and his friends.”

From Bill Johnson (I strongly encourage you to watch the accompanying video on this link to get the full scope of Bill's response):

“While I will never blame Todd’s opponents for Todd’s bad choices (Todd alone is responsible for them) their opposition had a greater effect than any of his critics will likely own up to in this lifetime.”
“The ripple effects of Todd’s decisions have been astronomical. I’ve not seen anything like it in my lifetime. I’m sure there has been, but I’ve certainly not been this close to it.”
“This is the way it is for the kingdom: Everything is for advancement. Everything. While it looks like sometimes you’re taking three steps backward, if heart is kept clean and we stay accountable and we learn how to maneuver through this minefield, we can come out on the other side of this thing so much stronger than before.”

From Che Ahn:

“It is not surprising that the enemy would use this incident and anything he can find to impugn the work of God to cause us and all involved to question the Lakeland revival. Every revival that I have experienced or studied had its controversy, and the Lakeland revival, to say the least, has had its share.”
“I have every confidence that God began the ‘Outpouring,’ and the ‘cat is already out of the bag.’ Thousands upon thousands in our nation and many others have already received the impartation to cause it to continue and grow.”

From Rick Joyner:

“ What makes [Todd] capable of such extraordinary faith also makes him prone to extraordinary blunders. … Like it or not, that is often the nature of those who accomplish some of the greatest spiritual exploits—they also make some of the biggest bloopers. Hearing about these problems did not surprise me at all. Since I have now heard about more details, I’m still not shocked. These are problems, and they need to be fixed, which includes repenting and turning around, but if we want the victories and breakthroughs we all hope and pray for, they usually come through people with the same kind of nature.
“One thing that would help them and the body of Christ, possibly more than anything else, is to see some real Christian charity expressed in this situation and some righteous judges stand up, which is the duty of true elders in the church.”
“This is a real opportunity for the church to show some maturity and Christian love. This does not mean compromise, but it does mean addressing this situation in an almost opposite way that we have tended to do in the past.”

From Dutch Sheets:

“When something has the potential of setting precedent, birthing a movement and being reproduced as a prototype, we are no longer simply endorsing good brothers, good intentions and miracles. Doctrine and foundations will be built on these events. Teachings and paradigms for future ministries will be formed—in short, the next generation of the church and the move of God in the earth could be greatly impacted.”
“We leaders in the Church have become no different than the world around us in our standards for measuring success and greatness. This has contributed to the body of Christ giving millions of dollars to undeserving individuals; it has allowed people living in sin to become influential leaders—even to lead movement, allowing them influence all the way to the White House. Through our lack of discernment we built their stages and gave them their platforms. We have been gullible beyond words—gullible leaders producing gullible sheep.”
“I don’t believe anyone is expecting perfection from us—I know I’m not. We’re far too human for that. But we are expected to have enough humility to look the world and those who follow us in the eye when we miss it and say, ‘We were wrong and we are sorry.’ Our careless accountability has caused the body of Christ to be spiritually raped and abused. It has produced disillusionment and brought immeasurable reproach to our God and cynicism to His message. Concerning Lakeland, what was called the “greatest revival since Azusa Street” has become possibly one of the greatest reproaches. We, the leaders of the charismatic church, are responsible.”
“Our procedures and standards of accountability are incredibly inadequate. We have provided camaraderie, not biblical accountability.”

From Don Finto:

“We are again experiencing the disappointment and even disillusionment that comes when perceived servants of God fail. This is a dangerous time for us.”
“Lord, have mercy upon us! Turn our propensity for judgment into mercy and intercession. May the disappointment and disillusionment that is ours through the sin of another, work in us a radical pursuit of You, Lord, Your Presence and Your gifts!”

Council in Lakeland

2008-08-11T15:38:00.004-05:00

It didn't take long after the Lakeland Outpouring began in April for certain issues to rise to the surface and eventually cause such a division among Spirit-filled believers that many referred to it as a potential "charismatic civil war." At the core were such issues as extra-biblical doctrine, overemphasis on angelic encounters and necromancy. And as so easily happens in this age of armchair quarterbacks, the blogosphere lit up in fervent debate. Heresy hunters feasted on any proof-less claims and foundation-less doctrines. Defenders railed against a lack of spiritual discernment among the "revival police." And everyday inquisitors were stuck with a truck-load of questions mingled with a sincere desire to stay in step with what God was doing.

As the debates climaxed, few realized that behind the scenes a group of leaders representing various parts of the Spirit-filled community were dialoguing about these same issues—albeit usually in a more civilized tone. Though the names of those involved changed, the goal remained the same: to create an apostolic council that, despite personal differences and preferences, was willing to address these core issues and bring biblical order to the situation. Those tuned in to GOD TV's daily broadcast of the Lakeland meetings got a taste of this in late June when Peter Wagner organized a night to apostolically commission evangelist Todd Bentley.

Now, more than a month later, Wagner is releasing a report documenting the council's findings so far. There isn't much "new news" contained in what he's written—even for those hearing about this for the first time—and I have to be honest, I severely question both the breadth of representation within the council and the criterion for "apostleship" among the group. However, the document does reveal at least two positive things: 1) Though the Lakeland Outpouring may dwindle, leaders are fully aware that these issues will linger long after the crowds subside and therefore need to be adequately addressed, if not resolved; and 2) Leaders are determined to address the issues of Lakeland—and those ongoing ones affecting the entire charismatic movement, for that matter—in a healthy, orderly and biblical manner.

So ... after reading through it, what do you think?

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THE LAKELAND APOSTOLIC FINDINGS
From the Lakeland Outpouring Apostolic Team
Written by C. Peter Wagner, Convening Apostle
(As of 8-11-08)

Introduction

Few events in recent church history have drawn as much national and international attention as the Lakeland Outpouring, May-August 2008, led by evangelist Todd Bentley and his Fresh Fire Ministries team. A key factor contributing to this unusual phenomenon has been the decision of Rory and Wendy Alec to use GOD TV to televise the revival meetings internationally.

As would be expected, true to the history of revivals, a powerful move of God like this inevitably draws serious attacks from the enemy and his forces of darkness. One outcome is a range of reactions to the phenomenon from those who focus on the hand of God in the ministry to those who focus on the damage that the enemy is doing. Because of the unprecedented number of people who have been affected one way or another by Lakeland and because of instant communication through technology, opinions and points of view easily become public domain, and the body of Christ can readily become polarized, which, of course, would be a victory for the enemy.

Unfortunately, in the case of Lakeland, the enemy has been succeeding, more than he should, in producing widespread confusion and even chaos throughout large segments of the body of Christ.

Throughout the early weeks of the Outpouring I watched it from time to time on TV, I followed the news items and rejoiced at what God was doing in Lakeland, but the matter was located toward the bottom of my priority scale. I also became aware of a rising number of criticisms and concerns about what was going on there, but I had very little interest in absorbing or analyzing them. This changed when I received a telephone call from Apostle Stephen Strader, Pastor of Ignited Church, and host of the Lakeland Outpouring. Stephen called me as the Presiding Apostle of the International Coalition of Apostles (ICA) of which he was a member. From first hand observation he described both the blessings and harsh opposition that they had begun to experience. Then he said, “Where are the apostles?”

I believe the Holy Spirit spoke to me at that moment and said words to the effect, “Peter, you will need to answer that question.” As I have written in my books, one of the roles of an apostle is to set things in order and another is to assure that the body of Christ is operating on the basis of sound, biblical doctrine. There was no question about the need—disorder reigned, and many of the Lakeland doctrines as well as practices were being called into question on an international scope. I believe that I was given a divine assignment that I hadn’t even desired, namely to attempt to bring some kind of apostolic order to this widespread and potentially damaging confusion.

While I was talking to Stephen, God kept bringing the word “alignment” to the front of my mind, so I questioned him on Todd Bentley’s apostolic alignment. The upshot was that Todd believed in apostles and prophets, but he had never entered into a formal alignment. I did some more investigation over the next couple of days, and I was assured that this was indeed the case.

As the picture developed, there were two pressing needs. One was to facilitate apostolic alignment for Todd and the other was to deal responsibly with the doctrinal and ministry style issues being discussed. Then the question became, Which should come first? Meanwhile I had been discussing these things with several friends, all of whom were also members of ICA and whose opinion I highly respected. I immediately discovered to my surprise that many of my friends had formed highly-charged and emotionally intense opinions. Some were advising me not to go to Lakeland to promote a formal alignment until the doctrinal issues first had been resolved. Others took the opposite position. I carefully considered what they said and weighed the pros and cons as best I could.

My thinking was that I did not want to deal with doctrinal issues with any one but fellow apostles. I had recently attempted a similar process that had to do with a certain prophet, and I had failed in accomplishing my goal of bringing about a reconciliation of opposing parties. I felt that one of my mistakes had been attempting to deal directly with a prophet who was not aligned with me instead of dealing with an apostle with whom this person was in fact aligned. I certainly knew that I did not want to attempt to work directly with an evangelist such as Todd Bentley, especially one whom I had never met. If Todd was not apostolically aligned, this alignment needed to be formalized before I was prepared to go any further. I am well aware that some friends thought I should have stopped right there and pulled out. Perhaps I should have, but I felt that I would be disobeying the word from the Holy Spirit if I did. Some of my friends have not yet forgiven me for not taking their advice, and, who knows? Someday they might be telling me, “I told you so!”

Regardless, I knew that alignment needed to come first. Chuck Pierce, with whom I am closely aligned prophetically, wholeheartedly agreed. I did my due diligence and discovered that Ché Ahn was the ICA member who had the closest contact with Todd, and that Todd was willing to accept this alignment. Ché felt that he should bring in Bill Johnson and John Arnott since all three of them were close to Todd and they lead the newly-formed Revival Alliance. Unbelievably, all four of us had one date in common open all summer, Monday, June 23, so we decided that we would propose it to Todd. He enthusiastically agreed and invited us to come.

By now the word was getting out and I was receiving a quantity of email correspondence from other apostles who were interested. I opened the door for those who desired to accompany us on the platform. I did not allow prophets, evangelists pastors, or teachers to join the group—apostles only. A total of 17 apostles participated representing three apostolic streams: ICA, Revival Alliance, and Morning Star (Rick Joyner).

The Alignment Ceremony

My role in the ceremony was to facilitate Todd’s alignment with the three from Revival Alliance, who would then commission Todd as the evangelist to the Lakeland Outpouring. The others were invited to join in with short prayers or prophecies as led.

I need to explain a couple of things at this point, because it turns out that some have misunderstood what I have just said. Some have thought that Todd is aligned with me, which is not the case. He is not a member of ICA. We are barely aquainted. Please note that purposely I have never come out and defended Todd against any of the accusations. I have attempted to maintain neutrality in order to deal with the issues as objectively as possible.

Some have said that my very appearance in the ceremony constituted a de facto endorsement of the Lakeland Outpouring. I anticipated that this would be the case, and I felt I had to take the risk because I knew of no other way to proceed. So while it was an endorsement, I in no way meant it to imply that I was endorsing Lakelands’s side of the controversial issues. For one thing I couldn’t do that because I had not yet investigated them as I am doing now. I felt that the proper protocol was alignment first. However, I did feel, and still do, that what was wrong with the Outpouring should be corrected if at all possible rather than rejected out of hand.

Others wondered if this was an ICA event. It was not. However, I cannot separate myself from my role as the ICA leader, and I so identified myself in my paper. Thirteen of the 17 apostles on the platform were ICA members, and they agreed that Todd would be better with formal apostolic alignment than without it.

I have been scolded by some for making an apostolic decree at the end of my presentation. They may be right. However, I believe in apostolic alignment so much, that my thought was that Todd would be blessed more after the alignment than before. Take note also that I mentioned a heightened level of discernment between truth and error which obviously has been called for.

The vows of alignment with Ché, Bill, and John led to Todd’s commissioning. Ché Ahn was in charge of this. Notice that the only ones who laid on hands and commissioned were the three of them. Several prayed and prophesied. I want to make it clear that I did not commission Todd as some wrongly think. I didn’t lay on hands, I didn’t anoint with oil, in fact I moved to the back and neither my wife, Doris, nor I prayed or prophesied. I did this intentionally because I knew I would be wrongly positioned for the second part of my assignment if I did.

With the alignment completed, I was ready to go on with the second part of the assignment, namely attempting to bring order out of the confusion concerning doctrines and ministry practices

Bringing Order to the Issues

I felt that I needed a team of apostles who were willing to work with me in order to identify the concerns that had been brought up, define them as carefully as possible, and come to an opinion that could be issued to the public. Ten other apostles have agreed to work with me in this project: Ché Ahn, Bill Johnson, John Arnott, Chuck Pierce, Stephen Strader, Lee Grady, David Cannistraci, Steve Strang, Jeff Beacham, and Joe Askins.

One of our first tasks was to develop a “Lakeland Spectrum” in order to help individuals concerned to know where they stood as over against others. We have a five point spectrum (1) Strong approval, (2) Concerned approval, (3) Neutral, (4) Conditional disapproval, (5) Strong disapproval. The members of our apostolic team range from 1 to 4.5, so we have a range of perspectives.

We have been working on sorting out what we now have, and the list is down to 24 issues. We are taking this very seriously, and we understand that the process will take time. When we arrive at our conclusions we will release them to the public. John Arnott will be the point person to review our findings with Todd Bentley and the Fresh Fire Board of which he is a member.

We will add to this report of the findings as soon as possible . . . .

Had a Good Cry Lately?

2008-07-29T09:26:00.005-05:00

I love the perspective Ecclesiastes gives us when it says, "There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven" (3:1, NASB). Some translations of that verse use the word seasons. Every believer knows what it means to walk through different seasons of their faith. It's a beautiful, arduous, light, joyful, painful, ever-deepening journey—one that, as long as we're nestled close to Christ, few of us would trade for anything in this world.

I think I'm in what Solomon describes a few verses later as a season for weeping. Ever been through a "weepy" season as a leader? It makes for some embarrassing moments. Wonderful times, sure—but times you feel completely exposed, vulnerable and yet still aware of your role to lead through the tears. I believe some of the most priceless moments of growth come during these weepy seasons. Several years ago I lived with a pastor who spent the majority of his days prostrate on the floor as songs of the Spirit wrapped around him like a blanket and rebuilt him piece by piece. He's never been the same, and I've never viewed leadership the same way.

The odd thing is, my current weepiness isn't over anything sad. In fact, I'm not really shedding tons of outward tears, so maybe I'm not really weeping as much as I am softened by the Spirit's movement in me. While leading congregational worship on Sundays the past couple of weeks, I've been reduced to a pile of mush, and the sense hasn't really left me. It's lingered as I've worked through an incredibly hectic deadline week for Ministry Today (God, give me grace!). And it's done nothing but expand as I've spent time with my family. The reason for all this? Intimacy with God.

Sometimes we speak of intimacy, and sometimes we simply "do" it. For years in the charismatic world I heard message after message of the importance of worship, of being intimate with the Lord—yet aside from the local broken pastor of a small-and-dwindling church, few leaders "did" it. Apparently it's not that cool to lead through tears. They work on occasion when you want to get your message across, or the rare times when the Lord stops you in your tracks and overwhelms you with His presence. But stay in that spot of tear-filled, precious intimacy and people begin looking for the next church that's a little more "put together." You know, one that has a better children's program, whose worship leader doesn't linger on all those awkard moments of music-less adoration, whose pastor sticks to his three-point sermon and isn't so ... well, weepy.

May I be bold enough to say I doubt the Lord is scouring the land for "put together" churches and "put together" leaders? He is looking for those who worship in spirit and in truth—and, interestingly enough, both those elements require a "breaking down" of flesh and lies. Our usual response when something we treasure is torn down is to cry. Yet when we've walked with God enough to know His lovingkindness is everlasting, then we know He always has our best interest in mind. He wants to increase our capacity for intimacy with Him—which means those tears of pain will often transform into tears of tenderness and affection. Like Mary, who washed Jesus' feet with her tears, hair and expensive perfume (see Luke 7:37-39), we are to be a bride who is infatuated with her husband and showers Him with affection whenever possible.

All this can look a little messy at times. But then again, His is a love worth crying over.

Getting the 'Stuff' Out of the Way

2008-07-18T13:44:00.003-05:00

Because of the many cringe-worthy statements being made from the platform at the Lakeland Outpouring, I'm determined to focus on the great things God is doing there among the leadership. Last night's meeting presented a prime opportunity to do this as John and Carol Arnott from the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship sought to follow the Holy Spirit's movement amidst a crowd of eager, hungry people from across the world. The international flavor was, as always, a beautiful peek into the kingdom, yet what struck me most was a statement John made while praying for a lineup of individuals affected by spinal injuries.

After a woman came up hobbling onstage with a cane—a result of a major car accident four years prior that claimed her daughter's life—and left able to walk on her own, John said this:

"Maybe you didn't notice … but while I was talking to [some other people], Carol was busy ministering to this lady, going deeper and unraveling some of the stuff that maybe had been getting in the way of her heart receiving that healing. You and I are learning to do this. We're not nearly as good at it as Jesus was—at least I'm not. But I'm aspiring to that. I want to get to the place where everything is healed instantaneously. Don't you? Wouldn't that be great? In the meanwhile, sometimes we take a little more time getting the stuff and the baggage out of the way."

If there's anything we need more of at Lakeland, it's the humility and transparency John showed with this simple, somewhat off-the-cuff comment. John's been praying for people's healings for years, yet I love that he was honest enough to explain what was going on at that moment and offer insight into the atmosphere of healing. We desperately need more of this—particularly in Lakeland—to diffuse the "mystical," elitist sense that surrounds healing in certain charismatic circles. Healing has become a complex issue partly because of the culture we've created around it—the "why not me?" questions, the level-of-faith game, the prayer flair, etc. Yet throughout the night, John reminded people of how simple it really is. God does the work, we receive His gift. At one point, while speaking of God's fatherly heart, John cited Luke 12:32: "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

If only we—yes, I'm talking to leaders—could believe this and keep things simple. Then maybe we'd get some of this "stuff" out of the way and let God to really move among His people.

Pastors Defending Marriage

2008-07-14T13:23:00.005-05:00

I don't usually opt to blog on someone else's behalf, much less post someone else's e-mail/PSA as a blog ... but I'm making a well-deserved exception in this case. Read the letter below sent out a few days ago from a group of concerned pastors and you'll see why. Then, if you live in Florida, Arizona or California, go make a difference!

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July 10, 2008
To: Our Pastor and Christian Leader Friends in Florida and Arizona
From: Your Pastor and Christian Leader Friends in California
RE: Your Invitation to join 2,000 California pastors in a July 30 Conference Call to defend marriage on November 4 (Election Day)

Greetings,

We are a collection of California pastors writing to pastors. We apologize in advance for the length of this letter, but we feel the seriousness of the situation merits it. Our three states have something in common. On November 4, California, Arizona and Florida will be voting on the definition of marriage.

In California, we are reeling from a May 15 ruling of the CA Supreme Court which overturned our Family Code (Proposition 22, approved in 2000 by 61.4% of the voters) which declared that marriage consisted of the union of a man and a woman. As a result, gay “marriage” became legal here on June 16 at 5:01 PM.

Unlike Massachusetts, where gay “marriage” cannot be “exported” to other states, anyone can get married in California, due to the lack of a residency requirement, and then return to their home state, requiring their gay “marriage” to be recognized.

Here in California (as in Florida), we recently reached the needed number of signatures for a November 4 referendum when we will vote on the definition of marriage again, this time as a state constitutional amendment, so the CA Supreme Court cannot overturn the will of the people.

Candidly, we, as California Bible-believing pastors and churches, are vulnerable at this time. There is no state protection that permits us to decline performing gay “marriages” (contrary to what appears as one small paragraph on page 117 of the CA Supreme Court ruling). Somewhere and sometime in our state, a gay couple will walk into an evangelical church, or a conservative Catholic Church, and demand (under California State law) to be married.

We are responding to this by working to pass CA Proposition 8 which will add an amendment to the state constitution stating that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. To accomplish this, many pastors and Christian leaders have united.

Over 1,600 of us (an unofficial “California Pastors Rapid Response Team") joined together to protect marriage in a June 25 Statewide Pastors Conference Call. We gathered at 101 locations throughout the state. Now we are preparing for our next conference call.

A THREE STATE CONFERENCE CALL – INVITING ARIZONA AND FLORIDA TO JOIN US
Two thousand pastors and Christian leaders across California are coming together at 200+ locations (host churches) for a statewide Pastors Strategic Protect Marriage Conference Call (1 hour and 45 minutes) on Wednesday, July 30, at 10 AM in California and Florida, and 1 PM in Florida.

And here is our reason for writing. May we invite all pastors and Christian leaders from Florida and Arizona to join us for this gathering? Would it be beneficial for us to have “three state solidarity” on this issue from now until November 4, Election Day? If so, would you please forward this email invitation to every Florida and Arizona pastor and Christian leader you know.

NEEDED
Here in California, it is our goal to have, before November 4, 500 locations with 5,000 pastors and Christian leaders coming together in future conference calls in order to activate (along with others) 8 million men and women to vote for marriage, as God ordained it. With 7 million votes, we win it. With 8 million votes, we beam an indisputable message!

Now we invite you in Arizona and Florida to join with us in this great three state conference call.

HOSTING A SITE
If you, as a pastor, are willing to host a gathering of Florida or Arizona pastors and Christian leaders at your church, or you know of a pastor who will host, please contact Chris Clark at marriagequestion4@skylinechurch.org if from Arizona or marriagequestion5@skylinechurch.org if from Florida, or call 619-415-5453 ASAP if you are willing to host.

SIMULTANEOUS TRANSLATION
We plan to offer the conference call in simultaneous Spanish translation.

BRING STAFF AND LEADERS
You may want to host a site in your church so that it makes it easier to bring your pastoral staff and key leaders. If you do not host a site, be assured that assistant pastors and key select lay leaders of ministries are welcome – at any site.

WHAT IS NEEDED TO HOST A SITE
In our June 25 statewide pastors call, we offered only audio capability (with some 200 power point slides for the 90 minute event). For our July 30 three-state call, we hope to present two technological options for site hosts:
(1) Webinar (a seminar broadcast via the internet) or
(2) Conference call (such as we did for our June 25 gathering).
We are currently testing our capability to broadcast this and future conference calls to sites that have a broadband (Cable, DSL, or T1) internet connection for the webinar. Future emails will communicate the details for the site hosts.

If we are able to go live with the webinar format in July, sites must be able to project the internet-based presentation (audio and video) from a computer. If you do not have broadband, and prefer to utilize the conference call format, you only need to have speaker-phone capability that can be adequately amplified, along with the ability to magnify or project a PowerPoint presentation. For those who have broadband: Webinar participants will not need anyone on-site to run the PowerPoint presentation – the presentation and the audio will be streamed to your site via GoToWebinar.com. For those who do not have broadband: The traditional conference call will be an audio transmission, with a PowerPoint presentation available for conference call sites to show while the audio plays, making the event more "informationally friendly." (A person at that site must listen to a separate conference call giving PowerPoint instruction and cues.)

Be assured that the information shared will be extremely beneficial for the future of the cause of Christ. Saying it another way, it is worth canceling all other appointments in order to be present at one of these locations.

FORWARD AND ALERT US TO NEW EMAIL ADDRESSES
Additionally, please forward this email to as many Florida and Arizona pastors and Christian leaders as you can - or email us from Florida at marriagequestion3@skylinechurch.org and from Arizona at marriagequestion2@skylinechurch.org with the names of pastors and Christian leaders so that we can keep them informed of future developments.

COURAGEOUS PASTORS
If you are activated on this issue, may we take a small detour and affirm you? Thank you for being bold brothers and sisters in this struggle! Thank you for standing for the truth of Scripture, when it is not popular to do so. The present culture may be unkind to you. History, however, will be most kind to you.

Being a biblically-based pastor today costs. The Gospel always has. It takes courage to pastor biblically today. We stand together with you!

OUR LEGAL REALITIES HERE IN CALIFORNIA
On page 117 of the 121 page May 15 California Supreme Court ruling, it supposedly exempts pastors from being forced to perform gay “weddings,” stating the following: “Finally, affording same-sex couples the opportunity to obtain the designation of marriage will not impinge upon the religious freedom of any religious organization, official, or any other person; no religion will be required to change its religious policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs. (CA Const., art. I, § 4.);”

It may appear that pastors have "dodged this bullet." Candidly, we have not. The paragraph above, which sounds so consoling to Bible-believing pastors, needs to be fully understood. In legal terms, since the court case was not whether or not pastors should have to perform homosexual weddings, this paragraph is not legally relevant. If the case had been about the issue of whether or not pastors had to perform same sex marriages against their will, then that paragraph would have carried legal "weight." But the court case was only about whether same sex marriages were allowable in California. Thus that seemingly comforting paragraph is of little to no value.

Succinctly stated, we are - according to the best legal minds we have talked to - vulnerable. Attorneys defending us would make their case on a federal basis, but not, as we understand, on current state law. What will we face in California, Florida and Arizona if we fail to defend marriage?

For an answer, let us look at what has happened to our Christian brothers in Canada and Sweden and their losses of religious freedoms. Some have been charged for speaking out on the practice of homosexuality. Others have been tried. Some have been jailed. The Bible is now viewed as hate speech. Pastors are viewed as hatemongers.

Coming closer home, what has happened to the Methodist camp meeting in Ocean Grove, New Jersey when two lesbians demanded to have their civil union ceremony on church property? The lesbians could have chosen any part of New Jersey’s long shoreline, but they wanted to be married on one location owned by a church related group. The State of New Jersey, siding with the couple, took the tax exemption away from a portion of their property. Now the church campground is involved in a draining lawsuit. What is ahead for us – if we fail to preserve the definition of marriage?

Succinctly stated, (and unlike other issues), this is a survival issue, the survival of religious freedoms, the capacity to freely preach the gospel.

It is important to note that it is totally legal for churches and pastors to speak out clearly on this issue. Ordination did not deprive you of your religious liberties. Churches can (and should) speak out on moral issues.

Equally important is the fact that marriage is not ultimately a civil issue. It is biblical. It is a moral issue. Marriage, as you know, predated civil governance.

FLUIDITY
How are we to understand the changing legal climate? Christian attorneys will update us in the Wednesday, July 30 conference call. Several attorneys will be on hand to bring information on unfolding legal realities, including the recent legal attempts by the radical secularists to disqualify the upcoming ballot on marriage here in California.

UNFOLDING STRATEGY
In addition, we will cover the strategy for preparing for (and winning) the California, Arizona and Florida Constitutional Marriage Amendment votes in November. This is a winnable war. And, unfortunately, the freedom to proclaim the Gospel hinges on the outcome of this election.

CALIFORNIA YOUTH / YOUNG ADULT STRATEGY
In California, there is exciting news coming regarding the activation and training of armies of youth and young adults across the state.

We hope that sharing about these “game plans” will energize you with the emerging strategy in your respective state. We know that you, in Florida and Arizona will, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, develop their own plans. We are not expecting you to replicate what we are doing here. We do want to encourage each other, however.

CALIFORNIA MEDIA STRATEGY
We would like to share with you what we are learning here regarding a media strategy. Frank Schubert (Schubert-Flint Public Affairs Company,Sacramento) and Ron Prentice (ProtectMarriage.com) will share the broader, California statewide media strategies, hoping these insights will be helpful to our Florida and Arizona brothers and sisters.

FASTING AND PRAYER
Here in California, we are focused on a 100-Day Prayer Period will launch July 28, ending at the election, November 4. Within that 100 day period, there will be a 40-Day Statewide Fast, from September 24 to November 2. Individuals may fast portions or all of the 40 days, as they are led, or they may fast in “relays” as teams. If you feel it is pleasing to the Holy Spirit, we invite our pastor friends in Florida and Arizona to join us in this prayer and fasting period.

(Simply as a point of information, may we share regarding one more event here: A culmination of this 40-day period will be The Call (see www.thecall.com). The Call California will be held at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, on Saturday, November 1, from 10 AM to 10 PM – involving 50,000+ men and women of God from every denomination – all united to create a climate of ongoing prayer and fasting in our state and across the nation.

We want to emphasize one more time that we are NOT sharing our events here in California because they are to be “laid on” Florida and Arizona. We merely share them to be an encouragement to each other. We will, in this prayer and share process, learn from you as well.

KEY ISSUE: REVIVAL
In our hearts, we know that what is really needed is more than a voting victory in November. What is needed is revival and an avalanche of Holy Spirit-given evangelism. That is why we pray.

WEBSITES
If you have interest in listening to any or all of our 90-minute June 25 Statewide Pastors Conference Call, and to view the corresponding 200 PowerPoint slides, go to www.skylinechurch.org/marriage08.php and type in "marriage08" as a password. In addition, there are many practical materials that are applicable to all three of our states available at www.ProtectMarriageSD.com. Considerably more resources are located at www.ProtectMarriage.com

URGENT RESPONSE NEEDED NOW
Most importantly, join with us Wednesday, July 30, at 10 AM in California and Arizona, and 1 PM in Florida. Please consider hosting a site at your church. Contact Chris Clark at marriagequestion4@skylinechurch.org if from Arizona or marriagequestion5@skylinechurch.org if from Florida, or call 619-415-5453 ASAP if you are willing to host. Online registration for the meeting will be available on www.protectmarriagesd.com Please register on-line to insure sufficient materials are available for those attending at each location.

Brothers and sisters, this IS winnable!

We pray blessings on you – Florida and Arizona – this day.

Your pastor friends… in this ultimately victorious battle,
Jim Garlow, Skyline Church, San Diego
Chris Clark, East Clairemont Baptist Church, San Diego
Miles McPherson, The Rock Church, San Diego
Jack Hibbs, Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills (LA area)
Jim Franklin, Cornerstone Church, Fresno
Dudley Rutherford, Shepherd of the Hills, Porter Ranch (LA area)
Timothy Winters, Bayview Baptist Church, San Diego
Along with 1600 other CA pastors and Christian leaders who love Florida and Arizona

Culture Clash, Part II

2008-07-02T17:18:00.003-05:00

The Lakeland Outpouring is hot. Not only is that obvious by the tens of thousands who’ve trekked to Florida from near and far, it’s just as evident by the heated responses you can get online these days by simply including words like Lakeland, Todd Bentley, outpouring, healing and revival in a blog. As meetings hit the three-month mark today, people are still asking the same question: “Is it really revival?” (For an answer to that, check out the upcoming issue of Ministry Today in September, which includes an array of opinions from seasoned revivalists and respected leaders.)

Yet equally as pronounced—and fascinating, in my opinion—are the virtual tongue-lashings you’re bound to get nowadays no matter how balanced (or unbalanced) you try to be with your comments regarding the Lakeland scene. No, I’m not just reacting to those who posted their thoughts regarding my previous writing—which were mild compared to most online threads I’ve followed. What intrigues me more is the all-or-nothing approach so many online opinionators have adopted.

It’s called throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I know because I’ve been prone to some major baby-tossing myself. In fact, not to one-up the Apostle Paul, but it wasn’t too long ago that I could’ve been nominated as Chief Tosser among tossers.

When I threw myself into the charismania waters of the Toronto Blessing, Pensacola Revival, prophetic movement and other moves that have come in the past 15-plus years, I often struggled with making sense of some of the “extra-biblical” matters I regularly encountered. Having come from a Southern Baptist, “if it’s not in the Bible, it’s not of God” background, it was already a bit of a stretch for me to explain what exactly went on when someone was “slain in the Spirit.” At times I wanted to jump out of the flow because I was so frustrated by the (often unspoken) emphasis on the extremes, the manifestations and teachings that required reading between the lines of Scripture. And I grew tired of playing Duck Duck Goose with identifying what was “truly” in the Spirit and what wasn’t. Like many who have made a similar leap of faith, I still wrestle with these issues.

The problem, however, is that as soon as you admit to such a struggle in certain circles, your “Spirit-filled” level supposedly plummets while your “religious spirit” quotient rapidly rises. To appear “with it” and in the Spirit, you either suck it up and withhold all questioning or, like many I’ve seen during these years, you get thrown out of the rapids and left to sit alone on the slippery slope of the riverbank. With no answers or resolution in sight, your questioning quickly morphs into acerbic criticism, which turns into pure bitterness—which eventually leads to dismissing the whole Spirit-filled experience. Most of us know at least half a dozen people who’ve been down this path and ended up tossing the baby out with the bathwater.

This is what I’m questioning when I mention the Lakeland Outpouring. It’s the culture we’ve created. A culture that is enveloped in the Lakeland experience and has been on full display at each of the previously mentioned moves of God. It’s a culture in which miraculous healings are fused with a flesh-fest of celebrity, where people can experience unprecedented heights in authentic, Christ-exalting worship and yet hours later leave a meeting utterly confused. And although this environment may propel many deeper into Holy Spirit matters, it also leaves countless wounded and abandoned in its wake.

I am convinced God is trying to redeem such a culture through this current move. As I hoped to convey in my previous blog posting (but obviously didn’t), we are an odd but beautiful mixture of flesh and spirit: 100 percent spirit and 100 percent flesh, as was our Savior, Jesus. Christ never once abandoned the spirit realm, but neither did He forsake His status as a Spirit-filled container of flesh. He did His Father’s will through both, but in doing so, He had to overcome the culture surrounding Him.

I believe the same can be done at Lakeland. Obviously, it doesn’t help when people jump to the conclusion that this outpouring is entirely “not of God” or, even more presumptuously, that it’s the work of the devil. That’s just as bad a case of baby-tossing as those who’ve given up entirely on the charismatic journey. Can the enemy creep into our misguided, scripturally unsound interpretation of what the Holy Spirit wants to do in Lakeland? You bet. Can leaders get caught up in the charismatic celebrity culture that rears its ugly head (as it’s always done) during such a series of meetings? Yep. But having seen firsthand the hunger among God’s people—including Todd Bentley and those leaders associated with Lakeland—for an authentic, Holy Spirit-saturated move, I think it would be somewhat foolish to say God isn’t at work. As always, He’s simply waiting on us.

Our challenge, then, is to not point the finger exclusively at Bentley or other leaders, though they embody much of this confusing culture. Neither is it to foolishly dismiss the entire outpouring as a farce. Instead, let’s seek to establish God’s kingdom culture in the midst of the mangled one we’ve created. And that, I believe, includes repenting for being able to coast down the winding river of recent movements while seeing a legion of lost, discarded and confused believers sitting on the banks, contemplating their complete exit from faith—because of us, no less.

Culture Clash

2008-06-26T12:52:00.004-05:00

After experiencing the Lakeland Outpouring in person for the first time earlier this week, I returned home feeling like I’d just swum in a pool filled with oil and water. Every move of God involves a clash of elements: sin vs. salvation, flesh vs. spirit, pride vs. repentance … the list goes on. Yet I believe God’s current movement in Lakeland is exposing the mixed elements that have comprised the charismatic church culture for at least a generation now. The good news? Something’s gotta give. And my hope is that, like water yielding to oil, we’re the ones who make room for God.

Monday night’s apostolic commissioning of evangelist Todd Bentley began with the ceremony’s organizer, Peter Wagner, calling it “an event [that] could well have historic implications not only for the Lakeland Outpouring, but also for our nation and for many other nations of the world.” Those opening remarks set the stage for what simultaneously became an admirable display of ministerial government and a nauseating example of what’s wrong with our movement today.

One minute we were being reminded—as has been the case throughout the Outpouring—that this was all about God’s glory, that it had little to do with Todd Bentley. The next, Bentley was announcing to GOD TV viewers and those among the crowd of 10,000 what cities Todd Bentley would be visiting and what stadiums Todd Bentley would be filling in the months to come. One moment the emphasis was being placed on how revival fires would spread through average, uncommissioned Joes; the next moment, we were presumptuously instructed to “hold our applause until the end” of Wagner’s roll call of the big names in attendance.

I, like most people, am all for God showing up through unconventional means. I love it when He surprises some of us and offends the rest by using the underdogs, the oft-forgottens, the unimpressive and the downright weird among us. It comes as no surprise to me that God might use a sold-out, tattooed, pierced 30-something to stir hunger among His people. And above all the distractions, criticism and controversy surrounding the Lakeland Outpouring, this is clear: God’s people are hungry. Starving, to be exact. We are all—leaders included—desperate for God’s glory to change this earth and bring His kingdom. That, along with such elements as repentance and holiness, lays the foundation for true revival.

But I wonder how firm our foundation currently is given the celebrity-centric ministry culture we’ve created. We cry out for a move of God that’s pronounced through nameless, faceless people, yet we’re all too often reminded of who’s sitting on stage, who’s in the building, who’s holding the microphone, who’s attending what conference, who’s leading worship, who’s prophesying at the church across town …

Is anyone else seeing a culture clash here?

There are obviously other issues—from extra-biblical theology to extreme manifestations to teachings on angels—that have turned the Lakeland Outpouring into such a divisive move. But I believe underneath these fundamental yet surface issues lies a cultural war that is apparent not just every night at the “revival tent” in Lakeland, but also in Spirit-filled churches across our nation. God is looking to promote His kingdom culture, and we keep diluting it with ours.

What’s exciting is that we are all in this together. Ché Ahn, who helped preside over Bentley’s commissioning, spoke the following night in Bentley’s absence and at times gave a beautiful example of what great leadership can look like in these messy times. At the point where most well-known ministers would begin to inadvertently “hog the mic” as they lay hands on the sick and keep all eyes on them, Ahn followed what I believe is God’s underlying desire: letting the saints do His business. Not an elite few or just those who have obvious giftings, mind you. “This is the day of the saints,” Ahn said as he led almost 10,000 “average Joes” to lay hands on the sick among them and pray for each other. “This is something for all of us to do. … Not all of us have the gift of healing, but all of us have the responsibility or the role to heal the sick. … We all carry the anointing!”

I refuse to be an armchair quarterback of what’s going on at Lakeland, or of any of the leaders involved, for that matter. I am just as at fault for creating this culture as the next person—and that includes the honorable and gifted “names” that I’m targeting here. Again, we all want the same thing. We all want to see God changing lives, communities, cities, nations. We want to see the day when the “glory of God fills the whole earth” (Num. 14:20).

But like the Israelites wandering in Sinai, we can either make another trip around the mountain, or we can change and enter into the promised land of true revival. We can learn from past mistakes and fizzled revivals and be truly saturated with the Holy Spirit, or we can remain a diluted mixture of flesh and spirit. We can continue to shine the spotlight (even unintentionally) on ourselves, or we can truly follow Jesus’ example and become servant leaders who have no problem stepping aside as the Lord walks into the room. It’s God’s culture or our own.

Please Stay With Me to the End of This Sentence

2008-06-17T13:04:00.007-05:00

The latest issue of Atlantic Monthly includes a fascinating article that asks, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Beyond just covering the changes since the "information highway" entered our everyday existence, writer Nicholas Carr wonders what affect the Internet is having on our brains—more specifically, how we read and process information. Some highlights from Carr's piece:

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.
... And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

I highly recommend that you spend a few minutes reading the article. It's not stuffy or overly techy, but is a must-read for anyone who deals with people in this twittering, texting, terabytes-per-second-consuming wiki-culture. (Yep, that means everyone.) The ironic thing, however, is that if you're like me, you probably won't read every word of it. You'll glean through paragraphs, taking only the most outstanding info that catches your eye. And that, folks, is exactly the point.

Reading has changed. Media and our interaction with it have changed. But more importantly, our entire approach to communication has changed. And as a pastor, that affects absolutely everything you do in your approach to people. Yes, the gospel remains the same. The principles of God haven't changed. But just as Christ spoke to both His disciples and the masses using stories, analogies and language of the day, we must communicate with the same timeliness, the same relevant connective tissue. I'm not talking about technology, though that's a major part of it. What I'm referring to is having at least an awareness of the light-speed pace at which people interact with you now and "consume" your message—both spoken and unspoken. Once you get that part down, you'll notice a difference in how you craft a sermon, make announcements, counsel a couple, or even how you have a simple conversation with the Starbucks girl who makes your coffee each morning.

When it comes to communication, it's a different world. So how has this affected you?

Seeking to Blame

2008-06-06T12:32:00.008-05:00

The latest from the story that won't die ...

Last August, after assessing the results of an extensive survey of his church, Willow Creek Community Church's Bill Hybels uttered a four-word sentence—"We made a mistake"—that spawned a host of blog posts and news stories, along with a case of rampant "I told you so"-itis. Though Hybels went on to candidly explain Willow's struggles with producing true disciples rather than mere churchgoers (which the survey's results proved), the miscorrelation had already begun: Seeker-sensitive doesn't work! Christianity Today seemed to lead the charge with a blog post in October titled "Willow Creek Repents?" and a follow-up article in May about all the changes the church was supposedly making is response.

I'm not exactly sure why it's taken this long, but Willow finally posted a direct response from Hybels on its Web site today. In the posted video of a Q&A session with Willow Creek Association president Jim Mellado, Hybels called CT's latest story "an unfortunate article that was written without a proper understanding of what we're actually doing these days." And in a loaded response to the blog, he added, "I don't think when you make a strategic adjustment it qualifies under the term 'repent.' I think every evangelical knows that's kind of a loaded-up term, and I think someone wanted to get some action on a blog."

Not too long ago I blogged (also candidly, I might add) about my lack of a definitive opinion on the "seeker-sensitive vs. traditional" debate. Part of our problem, I believe, is that it's not a simple methodology question. Obviously, seeker-sensitive churches aren't in the wrong for reaching out to, as Hybels calls them in the video, the "irreligious" crowd. Any attack on that intent is absurd. Just as absurd, however, is dismissing the assessment that maybe we're not fully allowing the Holy Spirit to move when we program every worship service to be yet another "sit back and enjoy" spiritual ride.

I don't know. I really don't. I'm glad Hybels and Willow Creek are trying to set the record straight, but what might be the bigger issue here is why so many of us seem to want this ministry approach to be proven faulty. I've heard the arguments that a watered-down gospel is no gospel at all. True. But if we're all in the same boat, if we all wake up each morning needing the same daily dosage of God's mercy and grace to cover our failures, that means none of us is the definitive expert on ministry and what it means to fulfill the Great Commission. It means (without stating this too simplistically or couched in excessive naiveté) that we're all trying our best to share the good news of Jesus. So although many of us have a problem with seeker-sensitive worship services being more tightly scripted than some Oscar-winning screenplays, I wonder if by pointing that out we're not harboring a "they've missed the boat" attitude and thus exposing our own—now what did Hybels call it?—mistake.

A Falling Nation and a Rising Revival

2008-06-03T08:59:00.015-05:00

I've spent enough time working in the newsroom of a local newspaper to know it isn't my cup of tea. Apparently, those are words journalists are never supposed to utter, but hey, I'm just being honest. It didn't take long to figure out what the newsroom environment does to most people. While searching under every rock for the truth, writers morph into cynics as the world and its harsh sadness eats away at every sense and sensibility. Whatever survives is calloused, be it relationships, dreams, perspectives, etc.

I'm hoping that's not the case for veteran journalist Christine Wicker, who recently released her latest book, The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church. A title like that normally wouldn't catch my eye since we've been blitzed by so much evangelicalspeak in recent years. Do we really need another person's take on the rise or fall of evangelicalism, what it means or doesn't mean to this year's presidential election, whether there's a changing of the guard or not—yada yada yada?

Yet Wicker and her latest project piqued my interest mainly because a severely condensed version of her take on evangelicalism's decline showed up in the op-ed section of Sunday's Dallas Morning News. More precisely, she has me interested because of how much her words ruffled me. I'm not easily offended, yet almost every paragraph of her article sparked a response in me—from anger to agreement. Now that's good writing.

Some quotes from Wicker's piece:

The idea that only one little part of one kind of religion has the only way to God has begun to seem more and more unlikely. It has begun to seem rude. Un-Christian, even. And evangelicals, who don't like being boorish any more than anyone else, have become less and less willing to relegate their neighbors to hell. So we have a completely formless god of great power and instant accessibility romping around, rescuing millions whom everyone else had given up on. Then we have more Christians getting squeamish about proclaiming hegemony over heaven.

Evangelical leaders defend their stance by claiming that God doesn't change and that neither does sin. But sin does change. Slavery wasn't sin once. Now it is. Taking a wife and a concubine wasn't sin once. Now it is. And God—or our understanding of what God is, which is all we actually have—changes, too. When societies change, their interpretations of God change. Their readings of the Scripture shift. Human understandings are remolded so that faith can remain vital and effective during new times.

Whether evangelical intransigence is pleasing to God isn't anything that humans can ever be absolutely sure of. If it is pleasing to him, God may send a great revival that will sweep the country and restore them to their place of predominance. Such revivals have happened before. They could happen again.

Wicker comes from Southern Baptist roots, which I mention simply because it indicates to me that she knows exactly what she's doing. She's been immersed in the language and knows she's riling up a major segment of her readers. And yes, I believe her view is extremely skewed toward the Baptist world (again, she's smart enough to consider her Dallas-area audience). But through all her caustic language, I find it strange that her landing point is a question of revival.

We are in odd times, aren't we? And what I love is that God can speak through anyone, anytime, to remind us that He does not nor will not abandon His church. Thankfully, that church isn't the evangelical movement, nor is it the declining denominations. Talk about the declining church is cheap nowadays. According to every expert and analyst, we're becoming ineffective, powerless, scattered, divided, hypocritical and small.

Hogwash. The church is approaching what could be her finest hour. Whenever darkness grows thicker, light doesn't become irrelevant—it becomes brighter. A single pure flame lights up an entire room; think of what thousands or even millions can do. Even if there is only a remnant of "pure" lights left in this falling nation, that's still enough to rest on the assurance that God's people—His church—we are alive and well. Do we need revival? Of course. Does our nation need a radical spirit revolution that reforms our culture? You bet. Yet thankfully, every revival and reformation starts with a single spark. Call me an optimist, but I believe more than a single spark exists today. I believe we have more than just a hope; we have a future, just as God has said.

Big Dreams for a Small Church

2008-05-19T14:47:00.006-05:00

I've always been a big fan of small churches. That's partly because I don't fully understand how megachurches "do" real church, and partly because I prefer the rawness, freedom and community that comes from a smaller worship gathering. Is it awkward at times? You bet. A little clumsy and unpolished? Sometimes. Yet those elements, to me, are exactly why small churches are such a treasure.

I love that there doesn't have to be soft music playing behind every prayer, altar call or offering. I love that you can get to know—really know—the people sitting next to you, and that building real relationships isn't an option when it's impossible to hide among the crowds. (What crowds?!) And maybe more than anything, I love that small churches allow everyone to be a key, active part of the body. No sideline-sitters (or at least not for long), all players. Because in small churches, everyone brings something of value.

My wife and I are currently experiencing the natural highs and lows of leading in a small church. I've never seen a church so poised for growth, and yet I'm excited because at the heart, growth isn't really the issue—being the true body of Christ is. Sure, we'll all rejoice when we begin to see God bringing dozens of new people in the doors each week. But for now, there's an excitement knowing we're simultaneously ready and still being prepared, yet the point is not how many people show up on Sundays but whether we ministered to God and those He's given us for now. We are a church full of individuals facing tough issues and rough times—which is yet another reason I feel blessed to be there. Because if there's one thing I know about God, it's that He loves hanging out with the down-and-outers!

Mayday, Mayday!

2008-05-19T14:18:00.004-05:00

I just discovered this 40-second clip and couldn't help but share it—first, because it's hilarious; and second, because I wonder if it doesn't hit a little too close to home for some of us. Are Christians—both individually and corporately—really responding to people's cries for help, or do we only respond when people speak exactly the same way we do—namely, in Christianese?

Are We Doing This?

2008-05-07T09:13:00.007-05:00

I caught this story on the wire a week ago and was waiting for someone to cover it more extensively. (Leave it to ESPN to produce a tear-jerker.) On the surface, it's an amazing example of true integrity and character. But beyond the Hallmark moment, I think every pastor will see a picture of what the church can be when we work in unity for kingdom purposes rather than for our own agendas or glory. Although that usually involves sacrificing personal victories and dreams, when we opt for this higher ground—as this story shows—the end result is always more powerful and life-changing.

The Great Debate

2008-05-01T09:11:00.002-05:00

While running down my list of blogs I read daily, I followed a slight rabbit trail and stumbled upon this slice of modern American church. Ignore the main post and just read the comments not for entertainment's sake, but for a pure example of the pointless battles we wage so passionately in Christendom today—against our own brothers and sisters! In this case, it's Tim Stevens, a pastor at a well-known yet typical community megachurch in Indiana, who gets the brunt of the acerbic responses. He recently wrote a book, Pop Goes the Church, that says we should—how dare he!—engage the culture by using relevant language. But as you'll see in the postings, he quickly becomes the emblem for an entire church movement.

Call it "seeker-sensitive," "community," nondenominational," "interdenominational" ... the decripts for this movement all seem to mesh into a similar form. Essentially, it's the "new" church of the past 20-plus years continuing to redefine itself today, trying to reach people via a cultural relevancy that has been declared absent in the church at large. On the other end, of course, lies those who remain dedicated not so much to tradition (although some would argue that) but to the purity of a gospel that should stand alone. In the words of one commenter, it believes you don't need to "prop Jesus up" with thematic messages, slick packaging and rock 'n' roll introductions. Both movements are multifaceted and represent a myriad of styles, methodologies and fundamental principles. Yet we continue to argue which is, for lack of a more precise measurement, better.

For some, the argument is over whether the church is actually broken. For others, it's a dispute over methodology. For those honest enough to admit their personal bias, it's a preference issue. But I encourage you to take a step back from whatever you feel is right and simply assess the heated reactions we often bring to the discussion table. Rather than truly discuss matters and search for truth, we're quick to fire our preloaded guns—once again, at our own brothers and sisters. The comments at the above link show we are at the point—and have been for years—of absurdity. Does this really matter in the grand scheme of things?

I'll admit, I still struggle with the debate between "seeker-sensitive" (I realize I'm over-generalizing here) and the more traditional (note: not necessarily antiquated). I've experienced the positives and negatives of both firsthand, and I've heard years' worth of impassioned arguments for and against each. I am part of an extended family that often derides the seeker-sensitive church's stigma of a watered-down gospel, lack of discipleship and entertainment-based services. This family believes whole-heartedly that a full dose of God's glory and His Spirit's powerful movement is what essentially transforms individuals—not styles or methods, although both play a role in church life. At the same time, my natural family is deeply steeped in a thriving movement that continues to expand. Lives are being changed. Those who have tossed church aside are being reignited with a newfound relevancy of what it means to be a Christian. While this family admits it struggles at times with the maturation of true disciples, it cannot deny that its methods are changing individuals, families and communities.

So where do I land? Most leaders have an opinion. I'll be honest enough to admit I'm still not there yet. At times I wonder if we've missed the boat—on both sides of the lake. I question this new church in America and its lasting effectiveness, just as I question the "old" church and its supposedly waning effectiveness. Both seem to pale when I look at some of the rising, revolutionary churches I see abroad. Yet all of them, at least in intent, aim for the ultimate goal of establishing God's kingdom on earth through the hearts of people. And to me, that makes the bigger issue not how we're "doing" church but whether we're actually being the church—which starts with our fervent love for God and one another.

What's Happening in Lakeland?

2008-04-23T09:48:00.003-05:00

re·viv·al (rĭ-vī'vəl) n.
1. The act or an instance of reviving.
2. The condition of being revived.
3. A time of reawakened interest in religion.
4. A meeting or series of meetings for the purpose of reawakening religious faith, often characterized by impassioned preaching and public testimony.

The word revival is used a little too flippantly among Christians, yet the intent is usually pure. We want to see the Holy Spirit changing lives. We want to see Him healing bodies, hearts and lives to the point that people are never the same. Obviously, our desire is to have this happen as part of our daily lives—to walk as Jesus did, following the Father's lead and leaving a trail of signs, wonders and miracles. Yet when this happens in a remarkable fashion, for a remarkable length of time, we label it as a revival.

That same element of time will tell whether what's going on in Lakeland, Fla., is a revival. One thing is clear, though: God is moving. Check out the on-the-scene reports from my coworkers at Charisma and from the local media. GOD TV has been broadcasting the evening services live, and you can watch archived streaming videos here. I'm sure I'll blog more about what's been dubbed as the "Florida Healing Revival" or the "Lakeland Healing Outpouring" as or if it continues. But for now I'll simply echo the phrase used countless times during my days with the Vineyard movement (which also knew a thing or two about revival): "More, Lord!"

Building Better?

2008-04-07T08:44:00.003-05:00

LifeWay Research released a fascinating survey today on church buildings that may come as bad news to many pastors. Turns out the "unchurched" don't necessarily go for churches turning contemporary—at least not when it comes to architectural style.

Researchers showed 1,684 adults—all of whom essentially hadn't been to church in the previous six months—four pictures of church buildings with various architectural styles. By more than a two-to-one ratio, participants opted for the Gothic cathedral building over more contemporary options. Just as surprising was that the unchurched repeated this preference for the traditional in choosing among various foyers and worship centers. In fact, the run-of-the-mill contemporary sanctuary with multiple projection screens and stadium seating actually came in dead-last, as did the wide-open, family friendly foyer.

Obviously, this is both startling and a little upsetting for thousands of pastors who have ridden the wave of church design and construction that says a less "churchy" building is a bigger draw. But before all you old-timers start saying "I told you so," let's dig a little deeper on both the research and the results:

Consider the exterior options. Aside from the cathedral, the other three church buildings presented were not (in my opinion) necessarily cutting edge or wildly contemporary. None were refurbished warehouses, I.M. Pei lookalikes or emblems of innovation. Given the selection, I'm not sure I would've voted for any of these three either. To a degree, they reek of mass production rather than the artistry so often shown in a cathedral.
At the same time, this speaks volumes about our cultural and spiritual climate. Through all the mile-long shopping malls, Super-Duper Wal-Marts, and megachurches, people are still hungry for intimacy and community, even as it's reflected in architecture. One respondent even mentioned wanting an "intimacy that's transcendent." Isn't it interested how the tables have seemingly turned? What was previously considered a cold, detached worship environment may now be seen as a warm, inviting locale for tight-knit communion.
Remember, these are unchurched adults. Just because they prefer the look of a church building doesn't mean they're more likely to actually show up in that building. I'm not trying to be a complete cynic here, but the reality is church buildings rarely draw people. Sure, they can facilitate a connection, and they can certainly make for a smoother transition (i.e., not be a detraction). But even LifeWay's survey found that 36 percent—the largest segment—of respondents said the design of a church building makes no difference in how much they enjoy their time there. It's an eternal truth: The church is people.

One of the keys to this study was the underlying question asked by Cornerstone Knowledge Network (CKN), the company that solicited LifeWay Research. Here's what one CKN representative had to say: "Despite billions being spent on church buildings, there was an overall decline in church attendance in the 1990s. This led CKN to ask, 'As church builders what can we do to help church leaders be more intentional about reaching people who don't go to church?'"

We would do well to continue asking similar questions, even when the results aren't what we'd hoped for. Especially when they're not what we hoped for.

Church MythBusters

2008-04-01T08:54:00.005-05:00

My brother-in-law is fascinated with urban legends. His DVR is loaded with every episode of MythBusters ever made. He's always finding new sites on the Internet that reveal the absolute truth behind some far-fetched tale. So I'm guessing he would get a kick out of two statistics released this week, and how they shed light on a couple of church myths.

Myth #1: 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce, whether you're a Christian or not.
False, and false again. How many of us have heard a pastor use this in a sermon/rant about how bad things have become? Maybe you've even used it too. I've heard this all of my adult life, and not until the past few years (after a little digging) did I discovered how badly skewed this morbid statistic is. I won't go into all the details, but somewhere along the line—probably in the late 1970s, when the overall number of divorces really started booming—this urban legend got started. Some explanations account for the fact that when you look at the sheer number of marriages and divorces in a single year, there's a virtual two-to-one ratio. The problem is, however, this doesn't factor in all the millions of marriages still existing. Bad stat.

The Barna Group's latest study echoes this with a relatively small sampling of 5,000-plus Americans. Thirty-three percent of those polled had been divorced at least once. Among born-again Christians, that rate essentially remained the same (32 percent), while for evangelicals it dipped slightly (26 percent). Is this difference enough to prove that a walk with God automatically makes you divorce-proof? Of course not. But it also echoes the fact that significantly less—about half, in fact—people are getting divorced than what you hear.

Myth #2: Muslims are taking over the world.
OK, maybe I'm exaggerating this myth a bit, but it's the sense you get once again from many misinformed pulpits. There is some definite truth to the feeling that the Muslim world is expanding. It is, and at a rate that should prompt every Christian to a renewed level of awareness and action. You know something's going on when even the Vatican is announcing that it is "no longer at the top" and that "Muslims have overtaken us." It should be clarified that by "us," Monsignor Vittorio Formenti means Catholics, who comprise 17.4 percent of the world's population. His big announcement was that Muslims have now surpassed that mark, making up 19.2 percent of the world.

Once again, let's keep some perspective on things. Although there are an estimated 1.3 billion Islamic believers worldwide, this still ranks second to Christianity at large, which, factoring in the multitude of various denominations and groupings, tops the 2 billion mark. That's about 33 percent of the earth's population. Again, I don't mean to downplay the impressive growth of Muslims in the past several years, but I also don't want to see another "wow" statistic misinterpreted.

Bottom line: Put on an investigator's hat before spouting a startling and oh-so-sexy pass-along statistic. That's hard as a pastor, given the limited time you usually have to do such research. It's much easier to just echo everyone else's latest shock tool, and it's certainly more effective in hammering home a point about the need for Jesus, revival, social revolution, etc. But given our statistic-frenzied culture, the real revolution may start with telling the truth rather than skewing it.

From the 'Miscellaneous' Folder

2008-03-11T11:43:00.007-05:00

It's time to unleash a few links still sitting in my "Miscellaneous" folder ...

Who knew we were the ones defining what can and can't send us to hell?
I just gotta know ... how in the world do you misplace a $1 million donation?! Not lose a million, mind you, but actually give it to the wrong organization. Do you know how much paperwork has to be filed to see a grant through? Wow. I feel bad for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who's getting all the blame.
I know there are other issues besides what's presented in this article about an Asheville, N.C., house church getting the boot. Regardless, it's still a sad, tough situation. I love the beautiful simplicity of "pastor" Amy Cantrell's reponse: "We're expecting God will provide." Right on.
Looks like Fort Worth's Broadway Baptist Church finally has some closure after months of a public battle that put the pastor's job on the line. Only problem is, what happens when your church lets you stay—by a mere a two-thirds vote?
Finally ... normally I wouldn't bother posting something like this since it usually just fuels friendly fire, name-calling and disunity. But I found the clip below of Faithful Word Baptist Church pastor Steven Anderson intriguing, funny, disturbing enlightening, pitiful and challenging—all at the same time. I have a hard time believing this guy isn't just acting. (After digging around a little, it appears he's not.)

Pastors for Presidents

2008-03-04T15:10:00.006-05:00

Don’t think it’s by chance that pastors are playing a huge role in this year’s upcoming presidential elections. People seem to forget that they’ve long been at the heart of our nation’s political process—and will continue to be.

It was impossible for the mainstream media to ignore the pastors-and-politics connection when Mike Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist pastor and denominational leader, stepped into the ring—then befuddled everyone by sticking around. Then came the hubbub over Barack Obama’s relationship with his pastor, Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, who just happened to be a longtime supporter of Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan. And as the apparent next contestant in the “Who’s Your Pastor?” political game show, John McCain recently found an endorsement from San Antonio pastor John Hagee to cause more of a stir than he’d hoped.

By now it’s obvious that the evangelical vote, no matter how fragmented, is still a hot ticket. What else explains the smiles among candidates as the roll call of Christianity’s biggest names—and their valued endorsements—continues? There’s an interesting shift that has taken place, however, in this wild electoral season. Call it the “new evangelical vote,” the “rising vote of social justice-based believers”—however you dub this development, it boils down to an age-old scenario that’s been a cornerstone of American politics since the Founding Fathers: a local pastor preaching his heart out on biblical values—values that, yes, connect directly with how we vote and just might line up with a particular candidate.

This used to be called “normal”; now it’s called into question. Such is the vacuum created when generations of pastors resigned from the political arena and allowed their sheep to fall prey to a “separation of church and state” agenda. (After all, when pastors don’t speak, someone else always will.)

I invite you, dear pastor, to find a place in history when pastors have ever been excluded from the American political process. You are, and always have been, the key to declaring God’s truth among the people—in every arena of life. That doesn’t mean you’re endorsing Obama, McCain, Huckabee, Hillary Clinton, Ron Paul or anyone else for that matter; it means you’re urging people to vote as followers of Christ, just as you’ve always done.

On that note … I’ll probably be plugging these again in the future, but I can’t think of a better time to promote two articles we’ll be running in upcoming issues of Ministry Today. If you’re a pastor and unsure what you can and can’t say from the pulpit in regards to politics, you won’t want to miss Mat Staver’s article “Pastors, Pulpits & Politics” in our May/June issue. If, on the other hand, you subscribe to the belief that pastors shouldn’t be part of the political process, I strongly urge you to check out David Barton’s piece in the following issue.

Sex Sells ... Especially in Church

2008-02-20T16:49:00.007-05:00

Sex sells. Yes, even in church. Especially in church.

That's what the folks at Relevant Church in Ybor City, Fla., are finding. After brainstorming with church leaders about how to help couples struggling with issues of sex and money, pastor Paul Wirth launched a challenge to those in his Tampa-area congregation this past Sunday: For the next 30 days, have lots of sex. In fact, have sex every day.

Ultimately, the point of his "30-Day Sex Challenge" is to help couples purposefully create time for increased intimacy, which will then make way for better communication and improve their relationships. As for singles in the church, they're urged to refrain from sex for the month (hopefully something they're already doing on a continual basis) and concentrate on going deeper in their own relationships without getting tripped up by physical issues.

"When you talk about sex, everybody expects the church to say God hates sex," Wirth says. "That's just not true. I really believe that God wants us to have great sex. ... Relationships are at an all-time low, and no one seems to have a handle on how to make them work right." He's arguing that his church—and this challenge—can help.

I had planned on blogging about this Monday morning, as it had sat on my radar for a few days prior. Then it became a story within a story, something not only incredibly indicative of our times, but also worthy of discussion that goes beyond the catchy sex tags. Here's why ...

As you can imagine, the media has eaten up this story. I've watched as it's quickly gone from a three-paragraph blurb on a small Tampa news site to Fox News, to the AP, to a two-page spread in the St. Petersburg Times, to every type of media outlet around the world. Definitely viral ... and the wordplay potential has certainly made attention-grabbing headlines. Meanwhile, church marketing blogs I regularly read have applauded the efforts of this small, hip downtown church full of 20- and 30-somethings. Doesn't every young, hip leader love it when you can stop a crowd mid-bustle and hold their attention for the required 0.2 nanoseconds with something that remotely, maybe, just might have to do with God or church or something?

I'm not trying to sound facetious. (OK, at least not too much.) I like what Relevant Church is doing with this, and I know the intention well because it rings true in every pastor's heart. We do whatever helps people so that, ultimately, they can step further aside and watch God move in their lives. I'm also in agreement with marketing guys who say churches shoot themselves in the foot most of the time by being irrelevant, lacking purpose and fumbling both the packaging and delivery. Hey, at least Relevant's leadership was smart enough to launch a Web site to coincide with the series (which, by the way, has apparently received so many hits it blew up—last I checked the site was still down).

So my objection? It's not an objection, not even a concern ... just a thought. I wonder if there will ever be a time when marketing isn't a church function, when we don't have to reek of "whatever gets your attention." A time when God is relevant by Himself, sans the cool sermon series, edgy Web designs, promotional videos and rock-band intros. Obviously, this is the age we live in, and we must reach people where they are, just as Jesus did, with whatever means it takes. So maybe I'm being religious by wondering in the first place. Maybe I'm just still in rant mode. Or maybe at this point, in a culture that has filled each second with 100,000 options and declared God's relevancy irrelevant, it's a moot point.

Warning: Political Rant Ahead

2008-02-15T12:07:00.008-05:00

I don't think I'm alone in saying this may be the most volatile political season our country has experienced in generations. I, like many of you, find myself at a crossroads: While I'm more passionate about the political process than ever before, I'm also beyond the point of being exasperated with it. For the average Joe, it's annoying enough that the media frenzy surrounding this November's election seems to have started around, oh, 320 B.C. But for those who actually like the fact that The Biggest Loser or another CSI rerun have been routinely pre-empted by a televised debate, there's a greater annoyance: this season's brash, blatant and maddening media bias.

You don't have to be a political junkie (which I'm not) to realize this is nothing new. In fact, it's very old news when you consider the machines that have run the parties for decades. And yet can you ever remember such a barrage of hyped-up public debates, forums and Q&A sessions that overtly squelched the predetermined "losers"? Regardless of where this season ranks in terms of dirty politics, it still scares me to see the effects of such coverage on the common voter.

Case in point: My wife was at a coffee shop the other day, where at the next table two older women adamantly discussed their dislike for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain. It became obvious that the women were Christians, so my wife was curious about their interest in other candidates. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing your conversation," she said while leaning over to their table. "If you don't mind me asking, who are you voting for?" Neither had decided, but they certainly knew who they weren't voting for. "So what about Mike Huckabee?" my wife asked. Both paused for a while, shrugged a bit and then matter-of-factly stated that he probably wouldn't win.

[Warning: Editor rant ahead]

Therein lies the heart of the current problem. It's one that's equally frustrating for fans of Ron Paul, who I think beautifully epitomizes the stirring, rabid underground movement that is fed up with conventional party politics. Paul and Huckabee are two different candidates, with unique positions, unique theories and unique followers. And both, we've been repeatedly told for the past year, are surefire losers. Can't win. Don't have enough cash. Don't have the support of key figures. Don't have the evangelical vote. Don't have enough charisma, experience, hair, Armani suits—you name it, they've been doubted because of it.

Surprise, surprise ... here we are, mere months from the party conventions and at least two of those "losers" are still hanging on, despite a process that is bent on dismissing them. They're certainly not surviving because of air time. Mainstream media outlets have, as usual, been successful enough to brainwa—er, convince the general public who the real winners are. As a result, we stand a few delegates away from McCain gaining the GOP nomination. Still, I believe people are finally catching on to the reality. When Ron Paul gets invited to a two-hour debate but isn't asked a single question, you know something's up. Or when Mike Huckabee is asked to attend the same event yet only gets tossed the token "evangelical" questions, it's just as infuriating. It doesn't help that major Christian leaders have added to that frustration by either supporting those who seemingly contradict their core values or, as in the case of guys like James Dobson, offering endorsements that reek of settling for the "best remaining choice"—and too late at that.

So who wins in all this? I honestly don't know. On one hand, I'm confused by Christians who say they stand for certain fundamental values but refused to get behind a former pastor and denominational leader simply because he supposedly wouldn't win. And on the other hand, I feel for a 10-term Congressman who is propheticly bold enough to call this a political scam—while being a victim of it. What I do know, however, and what gives me hope for the future, is that things are being exposed. Slowly, yes ... but at least they're being exposed.

[End rant]

What to Do When Your Own Congregation Thinks You're Demon-Possessed

2008-01-30T12:07:00.000-05:00

I saw this clip on Tim Stevens' site (from Granger Community Church) and thought it worth posting here. For every pastor that's been through anything similar to what Mark Beeson is talking about, this is definitely worth the 6 minutes viewing time.

What Charismatic Leaders Are Talking About

2008-01-16T10:26:00.000-05:00

We just wrapped up the Charismatic Leadership Summit held here at Strang over the past two days. And while my mind is going 180 mph trying to process some of the dialogue that went on, I wanted to quickly highlight some of the thought-provoking statements that resonated among this group that included some of the most renowned and respected charismatic-Pentecostal leaders around. (I'm intentionally leaving out which leaders said these to avoid detracting from the statements themselves.)

"You've exited your calling when you seek to please people."
"I think [humility] is something that in many parts here in the West is sadly lacking. There's an arrogance, there's a pride, there's an assumption that we do it best, we know what we're talking about. There's not the humility to learn from those who maybe aren't as wealthy, who don't dress right. They don't speak English very well, they don't have degrees and they don't have slick books with their pictures on the back of them. Their videos and TV stuff is way behind, it isn't cutting edge. But humility demands that we learn to listen and learn. The heart of this gets back to that posture of humility before God."
"One of the reasons that the reformation of justice or transformation of society makes a momentary impact and then 20 years later seems to dissipate (of course there are exceptions to that) is that the vessels of reformation and change don't have an intentionality about sustained connectedness with the Lord or to passing that on to the next generation--which is the key, I believe from Jesus' words, to sustained change in society."
"The overriding power of a church is in simplicity."
"Why haven't we seen sustained results after the many revivals? I think it has to do with the lack of keeping a kingdom culture DNA."
"I am committed to still believing that we don't have to acquiesce or surrender the power of God in order to win a generation. If we're going to win the Muslim world, if we're going to win America over, we need to demonstrate the power of God. ... There should be a continuity of 'We believe' even to the ballot box. We can’t articulate a message of righteousness, justice, holiness and integrity and a commitment to our core Christian values and then surrender them for the sake of political expediency at the end of the day."
"Moves of God and revivals themselves are not the endgame; the kingdom of God is the endgame."

And my personal favorite ...

"I have the privilege of interacting with a lot of international pastors and church leaders in the developing, underserved nations of the world. It's clear to me that God is raising up a new kind of leader in the body of Christ, a new kind of charismatic leader in this two-thirds world. He is raising up men and women who have anointing without arrogance, boldness without brashness, power without pride. I don't believe I've ever heard a sermon by a charismatic on James 2:5 that says, 'Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith?' We think that those are somehow contradictory."